SHIZUOKA, JAPAN - A snake was found near a passenger seat of a bullet train bound for Hiroshima from Tokyo Monday morning, prompting the train to make a brief emergency stop in Shizuoka prefecture.
A passenger spotted the animal, believed to be a non-venomous snake about 30 centimetres long, in a gap between a train seat and wall in car No. 12 around 10am (8am Thailand time) of the Tokaido line, according to local police and train operator Central Japan Railway Co.
Police officers at Hamamatsu station captured the reptile during a minute-long stop, and the bullet train arrived at Hiroshima station as scheduled. No injuries have been reported in the incident.
While train staff made announcements inside the Shinkansen asking if any passenger had lost a snake, no one came forward, they said. The police are still looking for the owner.
It is not the first time a snake was found inside a bullet train on the line. In 2011, a one-metre-long non-venomous Honduran milk snake was discovered on a passenger seat between Osaka and Kyoto.